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La Violencia
La Violencia (literally "The Violence", in Spanish) is a term that refers to an era of civil conflict in various areas of the Colombian countryside between supporters of the Colombian Liberal Party and the Colombian Conservative Party, a conflict which took place roughly from 1948 to the present day. Some historians disagree about the dates: some argue it started in 1946 when the Conservatives came back into government, because at a local level the leadership of the police forces and town councils changed hands, encouraging Conservative peasants to seize land from Liberal peasants and setting off a new wave of bi-partisan violence in the countryside. But traditionally, most historians argue that La Violencia began with the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala, outside his law offices in downtown Bogotá on April 9, 1948. The assassination marked the start of a decade of bloodshed which took the lives of countless innocents. = The Details = It is widely speculated that Gaitán would likely have been elected President had he not been assassinated on April 9, 1948. Dr. Gaitán was then the leading opponent to the use of violence and had determined to pursue the strategy of electing a left-wing government, he also had repudiated the violent Communist revolutionary approach typical of the Cold War era. His assassination directly led to a period of great violence between conservatives and liberals and also facilitated the rise of the currently existing Communist guerrillas. Over the next fifteen years as many as 200,000 people died due to the disorders that followed his assassination. Politics During La Violencia, several members of the Colombian Liberal Party and of the Colombian Communist Party organized self-defense groups and guerrilla units, who fought both against those of the Colombian Conservative Party and against each other throughout the countryside. The most violent groups were composed of peasants. Some of these were Los Pájaros (the birds) and Los Chusmeros ''(the mobs). ''Los Chulavitas were formed mainly of ex-policemen. The conflict was particularly cruel and violent. Due to the scarcity of guns, killings were frequently carried out with machetes and other crude implements. Torture and rape were common. Groups developed unique and horrific forms of corpse desecration as their signatures. For instance, the Corte Franela (literally "T-shirt cut") was characterized by severed arms and decapitation, the Corte Corbata ("Necktie cut") by a split-open throat and tongue placed over the chest, and the Corte Florero ("Flower Vase cut") by severed arms and legs inserted in the torso, as a crude representation of a floral arrangement. The reigning chaos during the years of La Violencia, and especially the lack of security in rural areas, caused an undeterminated number of people, estimated in millions, to abandon their homes and properties. Media and news services failed to cover events accurately for fear of revenge attacks. The lack of public order and civil authority prevented victims from laying charges against perpetrators. Documented evidence from these years is rare and fragmented. The Colombian population at the time was by a vast majority Catholic. Much press released during the conflict reported support of the Church authorities for the Conservative Party and included unproven accusations against several priests, among others Miguel Ángel Builes, the Santa Rosa de Cabal Bishop, about openly encouraging the people during Mass to murder the political opposition, accusing them of being Freemasonry|Masons and Jews and write Pastoral Letters with the same ideas (see Anticlerical conspiracy theory below). However there were no formal charges presented, and there were no official statements, either from Vatican or the Board of Bishops. These events were recounted in the book written by Fr. Fidel Blandon (at the time private secretary of bishop Builes) "Lo que el cielo no perdona" ("What heaven doesn't forgive"), 1950. Due to the circumstances, there were no liberal candidates for the presidency, congress, or any public corporations in the 1950 elections. Censorship and reprisals were common against journalists, writers, and directors of news services who left the country progressively. An Unclear Assassination Dr. Gaitán's alleged murderer, Juan Roa Sierra, was killed by an enraged mob and his motivations were never known. Many different entities and individuals have been held responsible as the alleged plotters, including his different critics, but so far no definite information has come forward and a number of theories persist. Among them, there are versions which, sometimes conflictingly, implicate the government of Mariano Ospina Pérez, sectors of the Liberal party, the USSR the Colombian Communist Party, the OSS and others in the crime. One of the persons supporting the theory of some sort of OSS involvement in Gaitán's murder is Gloria Gaitán, who was 11 years old when her father was murdered. According to one version of this theory, Juan Roa Sierra acted under the orders of OSS agents John Mepples Espirito and Tomás Elliot, as part of an anti-leftist plan supposedly called Operation Pantomime. It is claimed that this would also have involved the complicity of the then Chief of Police, who would allegedly have ordered two police officers to abandon Juan Roa Sierra to be killed by the mob (a claim which conflicts with mainstream accounts of Roa Sierra's death). An eyewitness to the actual events, Guillermo Perez Sarmiento, Director of the United Press in Colombia, stated that upon his arrival Roa was already "between two policemen" and describes in detail the angry mob that kicked and "tore him to pieces" and does not suggest any police involvement. Nathaniel Weyl documents the assassination claims then made by Rafael Azula Barrera and the President of Colombia Mariano Ospina Pérez that Gaitán was assassinated as part of a Cold War conspiracy led by the USSR to increase Soviet influence in the Caribbean. The violent disruption of the 1948 Inter-American Conference and the violent deaths of a thousand people was alleged to also have been part of a Cold War conspiracy by agents of the USSR that allegedly included the then low-level Soviet agent Fidel Castro. According to police records Fidel Castro was suspected of personally assassinating Gaitán, as his Cuban travelling companion, Rafael del Pino was seen with the fascist former mental patient, Juan Roa, an hour and a half before the assassination. Castro had attempted to recruit Gaitán earlier to his cause, but Gaitán had repeatedly declined and was assassinated because he was too politically influential and would have countered the Cold War objectives of the USSR in the Caribbean. Nathaniel Weyl documents an alternative claim by the Colombian President and others, that Roa was influenced by others and perhaps did not commit any crime at all. He discusses the questions of Milton Bracker of the New York Times and U.S. Ambassador Willard L. Beaulac if Roa had acted on his own. Ambassador Beaulac then speculated that Roa was simply used to cover the identity of the real assassins. The President of Colombia Mariano Ospina Pérez and the Colombian General Secretary Rafael Azula Barrera considered the evidence that the revolver Roa had carried was incapable of accurate fire, that Roa was not thought to have any firearms training, and that no eyewitness saw Roa anywhere near the assassination, that he was first seen between two policemen. From this evidence the government of Colombia concluded that the impoverished Roa with his diminished mental capacities had been paid to stand near the event with a recently fired revolver. Plate in front of the Jorge Eliecer Gaitan Museum. We can read here the meaning of revolution of Gaitan Other details which have interested historians and researchers include the fact that Gaitán was murdered in the middle of the 9th Pan-American Conference, which was being led by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall, a meeting which led to a pledge by members to fight communism in the Americas, as well as the creation of the Organization of American States. Another event in the country's capital Bogotá was taking place at the time: a Latin American Youth Congress, organized to protest the Pan American conference. This meeting was organized by a young Fidel Castro, and was funded by Perón. Castro had an appointment to meet Gaitán, whom he very much admired, later in the afternoon on the day of his murder, and had also met with Gaitán two days earlier. It appears that Gaitán was contemplating supporting this conference. Gaitán commanded large audiences when he spoke and was one of the most influential men in the country. The assassination provoked a violent riot known as the Bogotazo (loose translation: the sack of Bogotá, or shaking of Bogotá). Some writers say that this event influenced Castro's views about the viability of an electoral route for political change. Also in the city that day was another young man who would become a giant of 20th century Latin-American history: Colombian writer and Nobel Prize Laureate Gabriel García Márquez. A young law student and short story writer at the time, García Márquez was eating lunch near the scene of the assassination. He arrived on the scene shortly after the shooting and witnessed the murder of Gaitán's presumed assassin at the hands of enraged bystanders. García Márquez discusses this day at vivid length in the first volume of his memoirs, Living to Tell the Tale. In his book, he describes a well-dressed man who eggs on the mob before fleeing in a luxurious car that arrived just as the presumed assassin was being dragged away. Anticlerical conspiracy theory As is common of twentieth century eliminationist political violence, the rationales for action immediately before La Violencia were founded on conspiracy theories that blamed scapegoats as traitors beholden to international cabals. The left were painted as participants in a global Judeo-Masonic conspiracy against Christianity and the right were painted as agents of a Falangist plot against democracy and progress. After the death of Gaitán, a conspiracy theory circulating among the left that leading conservatives and militant priests were involved in a plot with Fanatics to take control of the country and undo the country’s moves toward progress spurred the violence. This conspiracy theory supplied the rationale for Liberal Party radicals to engage in violence, notably the anticlerical attacks and killings, particularly in the early years of La Violencia. Some propaganda leaflets circulated in Medellín blamed a favourite of anti-Catholic conspiracy theorists, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), for the murder of Gaitán. Across the country, militants attacked churches, convents, and monasteries, killing priests and looking for arms, since the conspiracy theory maintained that the religious had guns, and this despite the fact that not a single serviceable weapon was located in the raids. One priest, Pedro María Ramírez, was slaughtered with machetes and hauled through the street behind a truck, despite the fact that the militants had previously searched the church grounds and found no weapons. Despite the conspiracy theories and propaganda after Gaitán’s killing, most on the left learned from their errors in the rioting on April 9, and typically quit believing that priests had harbored weapons. Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory Conservatives likewise had been motivated to fight against a supposed international Judeo-Masonic conspiracy by eliminating the Liberals in their midst. In the two decades prior to La Violencia, Conservative politicians and churchmen adopted from Europe the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory to portray the Liberal Party as involved in an international anti-Christian plot, many prominent Liberal politicians actually being Freemasons. Although the rhetoric of conspiracy was in large part introduced and circulated by some of the clergy, as well as by Conservative politicians, by 1942 many clerics were critical of the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory. Allegations of a Judeo-Masonic conspiracy played most prominently in the politics of Laureano Gómez, who directed the Colombian Conservative Party from 1932 to 1951. More provincial politicians followed suit, and the fact that prominent national and local politicians were voicing this conspiracy theory, rather than just a portion of the clergy, gave the idea greater credibility while it gathered momentum among the party members. News of atrocities at the outset of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, causing both sides in Colombia to fear it could happen in their country, also spurred the credibility of the conspiracies and the rationale for violence. Catholics everywhere were shocked by the wave of Red Terror (Spain), and anticlerical violence in the Republican zones in Spain in the first months of that war where anarchists, socialists and communists burned churches and murdered nearly 7,000 priests, monks, and nuns. Since both camps claimed the existence of some sort of conspiracy, they managed to make the political environment toxic, increasing the animosity and suspicion of the other party. The American Dream The Hounds of War On January second, 1950 the first Syndicate "consultant' arrived in the port of Cartagena. A week after, several more men arrived into the harbour, by the end of the month over seven thousand foreigners packed all the bars in the city. They were all veterans of the last Great War and held from many nations the locals were unfamiliar with. The larger ones such as the United States, and Italy were recognizable, but most were from Poland and Hungary (Nations that were of relative little importance to people unaffected by the war). They were all deeply troubled men with hollow eyes that could swallow the very sun if they stared long enough. Hundreds of Acres of land were purchased over the course of February, and the foreigners eventually became members of society. They had all "escaped" the horrors of war and sought only peace in their own piece of tropical paradise. They claimed to have earned a ticket to freedom by working for a rather large corporation in Italy, and now have a way to make a living. But like the citizens around them, even the refugees were not spared from the violence. In the first week of spring, dozens of foreigners were brutally murdered by the liberals. The flesh and bone of what was once a man, bent and broken into what the "Artists" claimed were masterpieces. As if a nightmare hadn't beset the land, La Violencia would take a turn for the worst as Arms Dealers set fourth from all sides and poisoned the earth with steel and chrome. For a pound of salt, a man could receive an equal weight of lead. By the first day of April every man had a tool of destruction, and every child a relative lost. The people of this once proud nation were no longer human, they were dogs and only carnage and pain stood in their wake as blood turned the rivers a very deep crimson. The foreigners would became leaders of men, as bold and vigilant as any officer in the military, they would take great steps in training and inspiring their fellow brothers in arms. Eventually the largest arms dealer in the conflict, The Mediterranean Electronics Corporation would sponsor these men of action, and together launch a massive military campaign to restore order to the country. Early successes in the campaign granted the coalition not only much of the coasts, but most importantly Bogota, the capital city of Colombia. Over a third of the whole nation was under there relative control, but like the plans of mice and men, it all went awry A Blue Storm The three most traded commodities in the world are oil, coffee, and gold. All three of which were more than abundant underneath the palm trees. It took New York two hours before the prices of all three doubled in price. The investors flocked to the airport and onto the private jets on the runway. By the time they had landed, entire city blocks had been bought out, and thousands evicted. The few that remained were offered jobs and shares in the future corporations they would make with their bare hands. Unlike Iran or Saudi Arabia, Colombia was a nation without effective government, had clear access to both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and most importantly, was the only member of the Allied Nations without clear tax laws. The hunt was on in the land once known for a city of gold. Although Rome was not built in a day, many cities were. A dozen different corporations entered the country, each with a specialised brand of trust. Rail, Law, Steel, Pharmacy, Sugar, Mining and many more built small self contained cities within their property. The "Barros" as they were called are fenced compounds independent of any other form of government. The landowner would have final say on any matters on his property, but most of the time the tax collector or head warden would run the day to day operations of the city. The tax collector was involved in every financial investment from the initial request to personal inspection of work completed. The warden, on the other hand was responsible for the relative security of all nessecary materials. There were countless of individuals and criminal organisations that wanted the resources available to the corporations. At some point, the Barros would eventually go to war with one another for an advantage. Convoys would be raided, monstrous ships hijacked, and hundreds murdered in massive riots. The Barros would eventually become as corrupted as the land it so strived to be segregated from. The profits from exploiting the land were far more than enough to cover the original investment. Numerous potential products were tested in make shift laboratories, usually in the most horrid conditions, and the survivors were well rewarded(almost as if to justify the horrors committed by the executives). Eventually these bastions of stability would challenge the new order. Though small in their relative size, the Barros had the comfort of relative stability. Industry flourished and many people became wealthy. The cheap operating costs and nonexistent labour laws allowed the corporations to expand their operations across the nation. Thousands of peasants would build shacks along the outer perimeter and perform odd jobs for next to nothing, in exchange for relative security and the opportunity for advancement. The Red Dawn A long time ago, I heard a story. A story of a man who came to town. That man stood on a street corner and started to talk. He talked on how to make the world better, and like that the man continued to talk, day after day. At first everybody listened to him. Some even wanted to fight alongside him. But everybody soon lost interest. For them, they didn't care what the world ended up being like. But that man didn't give up. He grew older, and even when nobody at all listened to him, he continued his talks. One day a child passing by asked the man, "Why do you continue to talk, even when there is nobody there?" The man answered, "At first I thought I could change them. But now I know that to be a dream that won't come true. The reason that I don't stop talking is that I put my whole life, my whole existence on the fact that I don't want to make that reality a lie." The communists were by far the most disorganized and ruthless organisation that held power after the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala. "Marquetalia Republic" was a term used to unofficially refer to one of the enclaves in rural Colombia which communist peasant guerrillas held during the aftermath of "La Violencia". Congressmen of the Colombian Conservative Party had considered that those enclaves, including Marquetalia, were "independent republics", which needed to be brought in line with the rest of the country through military force. The area was eventually overrun by the Colombian army (during what was termed "Operation Marquetalia") in May 1964. Eventually some of the communist survivors reunited elsewhere and later became part of the "Bloque Sur" (Southern Bloc) guerrilla group in 1964, a precursor to the official foundation of the FARC in 1966. The Plan LASO (Latin American Security Operation) was a wide 1960s U.S. initiative against real and potential leftist rebels in Latin America, including Colombia. The plan was designed with the intention of preemptively preventing and countering the spread of communism after the Cuban Revolution. In the case of Colombia, the particular objective of Plan LASO was to destroy the communist military and social infrastructure in Marquetalia and surrounding areas. Jacobo Arenas, surviving the invasion of Marquetalia, wrote a book called "Diario de la resistencia de Marquetalia" ("Marquetalia Diary") in 1972. The book includes a chronicle of the events of the fight between the guerrilla fighters and the soldiers of the Colombian army brigade. In the diary, Arenas describes the geographical location and the natural beauty of the Marquetalia area with many details, giving the reader a detailed mental picture of the area, made up of 800 square km in the Andean mountains, at around 6,000 feet of height above sea level, with the presence of monsoon rainfall. In particular, one of the snowed mountains in the department of Huila is more than 12,000 feet high. The diary puts the guerrilla and peasant struggle in Marquetalia in context, happening six years after the triumph of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, which filled the minds of many worldwide with revolutionary fervour. While the events in Cuba absorbed most of the world's and the region's attention, information about the events in Marquetalia and their aftermath later began to be of great interest throughout these sectors in all of Latin America. The diary highlights some of the inner workings of Marquetalia as a sort of improvised "commune" or small socialist society, where not only the peasant fighters and Communist Party ideologues were present, but also several members of their families and some of their friends, who worked together as a community for both common socioeconomic and military/defence purposes. In Colombia, Arenas claims that the offensive against Marquetalia was designed with assistance from the Pentagon and alleges that some 16,000 Colombian Army troops, with the support of military helicopters and airplanes, took part in the operation (the term used in the book is: 16,000 "Bloodhounds" commanded by the Pentagon "Hawks"). The number of peasant communist fighters was thought to be much smaller, but a previous OSS intelligence report argued that it could reach as many as 2,000, though other estimates and claims have since differed, with most saying 1,600 Colombian troops were involved. Arenas tells how the fighters scattered, soon regrouped to give birth to the FARC, the former fighters of Marquetalia hiding in jungles and remote villages throughout Colombia, reorganising to fight a war by using terrorist techniques in order to someday seize power. After the implementation of Plan LASO's military phase in May 1964, the survivors of the Marquetalia "commune" held a meeting on May 27, with key leaders such Manuel Marulanda and Jacobo Arenas. The agenda of this meeting was to create a more formal insurgent organisation with the main goal of seizing power from capitalists and directing Colombian society according to the lines developed from anthropology-based Marxist theories. At the end of the meeting, clearly defined ideas were in place, which continued to be used for the later birth of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC in 1966. According to the leftist insurgents, their plan was to spread all over the Colombia into areas such as remote villages and jungles for security reasons, while others traveled throughout Latin America to gain experiences as part of their armed struggle. A popular story, perhaps apocryphal, relates that during a debate with the Conservative candidate for president, Gaitán asked him how he made his living. "From the land," the other candidate replied. "Ah, and how did you get this land?" asked Gaitán. "I inherited it from my father!" "And where did he get it from?" "He inherited it from his father!" The question was repeated once or twice more, and then the Conservative candidate concedes, "We took it from the natives." Gaitán's reply was, "Well, we want to do the opposite; we want to give the land back to the natives". (Gaitán advocated land reform). An Emerald Noon The Peru-Colombia War started with an internal insurrection in Peru, a civilian takeover of the city Iquitos. On September 1, 1932 President Luis Miguel Sánchez of Peru dispatched two regiments of the Peruvian Army to Leticia and Tarapacá, both Peruvian settlementes in the Amazonas Department in present day southern Colombia. These actions were mostly ignored by the Colombian Government at the time. It was not until September 17 of that same year that the Colombian Government took notice. The Peruvian Military Forces which were encroached upon the banks of the Putumayo River stopped several large trade ships from traveling to Leticia. The result of this was an explosion of Colombian patriotism. Laureano Gómez head of the Senate minority proclaimed, "Peace, peace, peace in inner Colombia; War, war, war on the border against our despicable enemy." On September 19, El Tiempo reported that they had received over 10,000 letters calling for war and control of Leticia. That same day thousands of Colombian students marched through the streets of Bogotá chanting, "Sánchez Cerro will die and Colombia will defy!" Vásquez Cobo was declared general of the Colombian Amazonian Navy and 10 million dollars were approved by the Senate to fund his venture. Over 400 kilos of gold were donated by the Colombian cities as a symbol of gratitude to Huilan engineer, César García Álvarez. In 1932, Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was called to the front lines in order to defend the country in the war against Perú. In 1936, he became an engineer of the technical department of the Colombian Army, ammunitions factory, on behalf of which he was sent on a special mission to Germany to obtain the machinery necessary to make ammunitions in Bogotá. On his return to Colombia he was nominated as chief of the technical department of the munitions factory. In 1943, he was sent to the United States to acquire weapons and other machinery for the Colombian military. In 1944, he became assistant director of the School of War, and in 1945 the director of Civil Aeronautics. It was there where he presented his project for airports in Colombia under the name " Tracks of landing in Colombia ", which served as dissertation for his promotion to colonel of the Army, a plan which he would subsequently bring into being with the El Dorado Airport and other airports during his later presidency. On December 3, 1949, Rojas Pinilla was appointed as Minister of Posts and Telegraphs (nowadays called Minister of Communications) in the government of President Mariano Ospina Pérez. Altough General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla had become the Head of State by means of a political coup d’état in June 13, 1953, to restore peace and order, the Asamblea Nacional Constituyente (Congress), by its Legislative Act Number 1 of 1953, recognized and appointed him as legitimate and constitutional President of Colombia. Rojas Pinilla enacted legislation that gave women the equal right to vote. He introduced the television and constructed several hospitals, universities and the National Astronomic Observatory. He was also a strong supporter of public works and infrastructure, promoting and conducting projects such as the Atlantic railway, the hydroelectric dam of Lebrija and the oil refinery of Barrancabermeja. In July of the same year he came to power, Colombia became the first nation to join the Allies in a time of peace. His forethought and experience allowed the conservatives to establish a strong base of power before La Violencia even began. Most of the armed groups (called bandoleros, a pejorative term) were demobilized during the amnesty declared by General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla after he took power in 1953. The most prominent bandolero leaders, Guadalupe Salcedo and Juan de la Cruz Varela signed the 1953 agreement In 1954 the students of National University of Colombia confronted the public forces in several riots the 8th and 9th of July, ending with 14 students dead. Some of the bandoleros did not surrender to the government, which caused intense military operations against them in 1954. One of them, the bandolero leader Tirofijo had changed his political and ideological inclinations from being a Liberal to supporting the Communist Party (PCC) during this period. When Rojas was removed from power on May 10, 1957, civilian rule was restored after moderate Conservatives and Liberals, with the support of dissident sectors of the military, agreed to unite under a bipartisan coalition known as the National Front, and the government of Alberto Lleras Camargo which included a system of presidential alternation and power-sharing both in cabinets and public offices. In 1958, Lleras Camargo ordered the creation of the Commission for the Investigation of the Causes of Violence. The commission was directed by the Bishop Germán Guzmán Campos. The last Bandolero leaders were killed in combat against the Army. Jacinto Cruz Usma a.k.a Sangrenegra (Blackblood) died in April 1964 and Efraín Gonzáles in June 1965. Dispite the difficulty's surrounding the government of Colombia, the Conservatives continued to hold power in all of the major cities, ports, and most importantly, in the hearts and minds of the people. The Militias were locally based, the Capitalists were tied to the Barros, and the Communists were crippled by the loss of the "Marquetalia Republic". It appeared to many that it would only be a matter of time before the Colombian Conservative would make there move, and when they did not even the wisest of men could have guessed the reasoning behind it. The National Front brokered a deal with the Capitalists, and would allow the corporations autonomy over their lands, so long as the recognised the Rule of Law. The Syndicate then backed out of it's agreement with the militias and began buying up the capital city before the deadline. When the agreement was enforced, the Mediterranean Electronics Corporation held the deeds to over 37% of the Capital City. In 1966 only the Communists stood against the National Front, so a rapid demobilisation of unnecessary combat units and navy were enacted throughout the first quarter. The Setting Sun For their couragious actions in the Second Great War, Japan recieved many territorys. Guam, Hawaii, the Marshal Islands and several other key territorys were awarded to Japan as a prize for all of the Empire's achievements in it's brutal war in the pacific. With such growth however comes the weight of governmint. The Empire of the Rising Sun had grown into a modern populus nation with as many necessity's and conflicts as any other. The need for fuel, security, food, and raw materials prompted the Japanese to make an attempt at forign diplomacy. Colombia was selected, along with China and the United States, to be allowed the privilege of hosting one of the first Empire embassys. The city of Buenaventura was selected to host the primary offices for Emperial residants, while several offices were rented in Bogaota for if the need arose. The staff of the embessay were secertly made up of several members of covert operations as well as very select psychologists, assigned with the task of reviewing the belifes and culture of Colombia. But how could the Embassy prepare for what was to come? No information was available for the Empire to reconsider there actions, and once the Empirial banner was raised over the Embassy's Court, not even the Emporer himself could have brought it down fast enough to avoid the inevatable backlash. Of course the Japanese view of the world was not soley based on Colombia, but in the mountan trails, they found the unavoidable conflict between the individial and society. The Conservatives, Liberals, and Communests represented what they saw as a small scale scenario involving the three most influential ideiologys in the world. Imperialism, Communalism, and Marxism were deadlocked in a brutal struggle for supremacy in which the victor would shape the foundations of the nation. Eagerly the Ammbassadros watched, they wished to know the outcome of such a fasinating experament. The ghosts of Karl Marx, Cleisthenes, and Ashurbanipal were challenging one another for the right of rule. In the end all three were equally being cast aside as only Cain began to rise from the ashes. The people chose greed and self satisfaction above all else. In the year of 1951, the Conservatives were pushed out of the majority of the Colombian countryside, the Communists were marching through the streets, and the militias denied entire providences to any faction. Only the Capitalist corporations benefited from the organized chaos. Their Barros defied all rationality as the distraught and disenfranchised piled at the gates seeking what could only be described as self destruction. They wished to be beaten to death, ripped apart, and put back together in the name of an in-understandable march to suicide. The Japanese were deeply scarred by the thought that no peculer form of government or ideology was able to surpass the most basic of human emotion, Fear. The fear of death, of the unknown, and of what humanity is capable of. When word reached Japan of the situation, data from the three embassy's in Colombia, China, and the United States appeared to present a pattern in human nature. "In fear of a hostile reaction, the human body is involuntary responsive to such stimuli as death or pain. But when the conscious mind of a person is unable to comprehend the source of the stimuli, then that individual begins to exhibit signs of insanity. This alone is not enough to drive a nation to ruin, but it is enough to set off the next stage of gradual decay, Mass Hysteria. When enough emotionally challenged people are together, the majority act in a way that would allow them as little responsibility for the others. This situation is astonishingly worsened by outside factors such as war, poverty, and disease. The results of such a situation is the gradual and continuous decay of moral values. Without such limitations within the citizens of said nation, then the psychological profile of the entire populace will become dependant on the culture for sociological order. In short the nation will be come as corrupt as the history and ideology of the land." To counter and prevent the dissolution of the Japanese culture, the Empire of Japan would become something more than a governmental body. It would become a nationalistic, zealous army of warriors willing to lay down their lives for their godlike Emperor and his vision. The Empire of the Rising Sun would be a strictly-disciplined military that takes great pride in its futuristic weaponry and ruthless tactics. It would become the divine destiny for all of mankind. The Fall of the Palace of Justice When the Empire of the Rising Sun suddenly emerged to World War III to seek its "divine destiny" to subjugate mankind to serve the Emperor and rule the world without capitalism and communism. It would unleash an entire new front to the war. Influenced by nationalism, militarism and imperialism, the Empire has adopted aggressive policies, viewing the Allies and Soviets nothing more than "barbaric oppressors". They sought to liberate and educate the people of the true path, free of conflict and strife. The Pacific was overrun within days, and much of Oceania either fell or was under siege. The Galapagos Islands were the first fall, and afterwards were a staging point for the blockade of the South American continent. From the east were Soviet Akula Submarines and from the west Naginata Cruisers. The Panama Canal was rendered useless and almost all international trade was crippled. The National Front collapsed under the stress of trying to suppress the emotions of the people. As time went on the outlook of the war continued to deteriorate, and the Syndicate began to manifest itself in the chaos. Tens of thousands of the Black Market's finest entrepreneurs set aside their differences and united under the most powerful organization in the business, The Mediterranean Syndicate. Within a week La Violenca was brought to an abrupt end with the dissolution of both the Liberal Militia and Communist Revolutionary Army. The only surviving opposition within the country free of Syndicate influance was the Judeo-Masonic clergy that were rumored to have been hiding stockpiles of weapons within their cathedrals. In return for their assistance, and for the resources needed to stage a resistance to the blockade, the cartels promised to come to the Syndicate's aid anytime asked. The once divided privet army's of a select few became publicly traded commodity's over the course of foreign influence. Hundreds of Thousands of individuals became soldiers of fortune, overnight as privateers armed their vessels with the latest in military hardware. The Allied Nations would eventually launch a counter attack against the Empire of the Rising Sun, allowing the Armada to take the Galapagos Islands, and much of Ecuador with it. The result would be renewed hostility's with both Peru and Venezuela as they were afraid of a revived Grand Colombia. Both nations fell within the year as neither had the capability's necessary to defend themselves in a modern war. For the first time in South Americas history, a war was fought with mechanised divisions as Colombian Marauder Tanks battled the Peruvian Beagle Light Tanks to the West and Venezuelan Anvil Heavy Tanks on the east. By 1967, the lines had been fought to a near stalemate as neither army could effectively manurer around the tropical rainforests or Andes Mountains. While the national armies were distracted the Syndicate went to work building valuable relationships with key members of the senate. Walter Elias Disney became the figure head of the Mediterranean Syndicates Western Hemispheric operations as he worked to negotiate a cease fire with the Empire of the Rising Sun. A hasty peace agreement was signed within a week as Colombian forces withdrew from Ecuador while Security Forces remained in much of Ecuador to enforce the treaty. Soon a large army was assembled in the city of Quito where they prepared for the conquest of all South America. When Cuba fell to Allied Peacekeepers, the Legion moved across the boarder. Overnight, Peru fell to well equipped mercenary's while in the Palace of Justice, the Supreme Court of Colombia declared marshal law. Prepared for all out war, the National Reservists gathered around Bolivar Square to make one last stand. They intended to hold off for reinforcements from the Allied Nations, and sent their most trusted individual, a businessman from Standard Oil named David Rockefeller, to seek aid from the United States. David however changed his plans after advice from Walt, as the war had forced much of the Syndicates Subsidiary's out of Europe, and the Board was eager for a friendly nation to harbour the Corporation till the storm passed. The Syndicate unleashed it's Battle-Suits upon the unsuspecting Nationalist Forces, fighting a bloody and brutal battle through the streets of the Colombian Capital. Through a rear entrance, Minerva herself murdered the 23 of the 25 Justices of the Supreme Court. The battle ended in a complete victory for the Mediterranean Syndicate as the company achieved the worlds first true capitalist bastion. Free from interference from a local government, regulation of Allied Counsel, or the threat of liberation by the Soviet Union. On July 20th of the year 1967 the National Army was disbanded and the Colombian Government partially withdrew from the Allied Nations citing it's agreement with the Empire as an excuse. Blood for Oil David Rockefeller, current leader of Standard Oil, was born in his father's mansion on June 12, 1915, in New York City. He was brought up in luxury, his father's company allowing him privilege, wealth, and prosperity few else shared at his age. However, his father recognized the responsibilty wealth came with, and thus young David was often found, when not in school, by his father's side as he conducted business, supervised the company, and taught his son everything he knew about how to run Standard Oil. It was by this that he met an employee of the company by the name of Walter Disney, and quickly developed a lasting friendship with the brilliant man, taking him into confidence as he grew and eventually relying on Disney as much as his father to guide him in the ways of the company. On May 11, 1960, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. passed away, and David Rockefeller became the largest shareholder in one of the most influential corporation in the world, with control of over 91% of the global refining capacity of crude oil. Disney was right by his side, and it is rumored that David is at times a front-man for the Philosopher, who advises him on grand strategies that ensures Standard Oil always comes out on top. The exploitation of oil fields along the coast of Venesuela and Equador was the company's intention, and after discussion with Disney and a meeting with one of the top leaders of the Syndicate - maybe even Romulus himself - Standard Oil was given access to set up shop in the fertile region. On every battlefield to date, Standard Oil can be found at the center of every engagement as they are willing to do bussiness with anyone in control of their facilities. Commanders have relied on a steady income from captured oil refineries in order to earn the edge over the compitition. The Freak Show Category:Lore